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Felicia Hardy (Earth-616)
Real Name: Felicia Hardy Nicknames: No known nicknames Former Aliases: Felicity Harmon Other Current Aliases: No other known current aliases Status Occupation: Cat burglar; Private investigator, founder of Cat's Eye Investigations. Legal Status: Citizen of United States with a criminal record but granted an amnesty. Identity: Known to legal authorities Marital Status: Single Group Affiliation: Heroes for Hire Base of Operations: Base of operations unknown Origin Place of Birth: Queens, New York Known Relatives: Walter (father, deceased), Lydia (mother) First Appearance: ''Amazing Spider-Man'' # 194 (1979) History The Black Cat's father was a world renowned cat burglar who, before his arrest, encouraged her to never settle for second best. If she loved basketball, she should work to become a basketball player and not just a cheerleader. During her freshman year in college, Felicia was date raped by her boyfriend Ryan. Hating the idea of being a victim, she decided that despite the consequences she would murder her rapist. She put aside her studies and began training in various fighting styles and acrobatics. Finally, after months of preparing, she set out for revenge, but before she could find him, Ryan was killed in a drunk driving accident. Furious that she was denied the chance to steal the life of the man who had stolen hers, and feeling reckless, Hardy decided to utilize her new skills to follow in the footsteps of her father. After amassing a fortune in stolen items, Felicia chose to adopt a costume identity. She first donned the Black Cat costume in order to break her father out of prison. On the same night, she met Spider-Man. Despite her antipathy towards men, Felicia felt a kindship with this lone hero. Spider-Man was the first man she felt she could trust and she grew to love him. Felicia looked for a way to earn his trust and continued with the Black Cat persona as a misguided attempt to attract his affection. Seeing the good in Felicia, Spider-Man made every attempt to have her criminal record expunged. The Black Cat finally found the opportunity to prove herself after learning the Kingpin controlled an incredilby powerful detonator. The Owl planned to use the weapon to hold New York City hostage. Doctor Octopus, however, planned to use the weapon to destroy the city altogether. But the Black Cat was able to use her abilities to steal the item first and protect it from all parties. She gave the detonator to Spider-man and became the target of Doc Ock's revenge. Although Spider-Man was able to tear off his mechanical appendages, Octopus was still able to mentally control them and hold the Black Cat still while his men opened fire. Spider-Man barely got her to the hospital in time and as they operated on the dozens of bullet and knife wounds, Peter realized just how much he cared for Felicia. After she recovered they began a relationship and soon Peter revealed his identity to her. But Felicia had great difficulty accepting the fact that Peter was just a man beneath the mask and couldn't understand his need for a civilian life. Peter was hurt, but continued the relationship since it was the first time he didn't need to hide his life as Spider-Man. Initially, the "accidents" which seemed to befall those who crossed the Black Cat's path were merely well-planned stunts and traps. After her near-death experience in Spectacular Spider-Man #75, Felicia feared her lack of superpowers made her a liability for Spider-Man. She was terrified that his overwhelming need to protect her would eventually kill him. So when Spider-Man disappeared during the "Secret Wars", Felicia sought out a way to make herself Spider-man's equal. After being rejected by the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, Felicia was offered an opportunity to undergo a process similar to that used to create the Scorpion and the Fly. After learning the machine only had enough power to alter one more human, the Kingpin chose to use it on the thief who had stolen from him. Scared and ashamed, she kept her new abilities secret from Peter. Her newly-gained 'bad luck' power was infectious and began to permanently jinx Spider-Man, which was exactly the Kingpin's intent. Feeling a wall of secrets growing between them, Spider-Man broke up with Felicia. He soon realized something was amiss with his own luck and enlisted the aid of Doctor Strange to remove the "hex" on him. But doing so altered the hex's source and changed the Black Cat's powers in the process. She soon found a heightened strength, agility, balance, vision, and retractable claws. The Black Cat updated her look and her attitude and rekindled her relationship with Spider-Man. She made peace with his need for a normal life as Peter Parker and stood by him while he was being accused of murder as Spider-Man. Together they tracked down the source of the elaborate scheme to frame him and fought the mercenary known as the Foreigner. Eventually, just as his life seemed to be falling apart, Spider-Man came home to discover Black Cat discussing her plans to ruin his life. He followed her to find she had never forgiven him for breaking up with her and in revenge became the Foreigner's lover. Yet during her ruse and despite her anger, Felicia began to fall back in love with Peter. In the end, the Black Cat double crossed the Foreigner and left for Europe to find a new life, which unexpectantly pushed Peter to find support and a new relationship with Mary Jane Watson. Years later, the Black Cat returned to America to seek out Peter Parker and was devastated when informed by Venom_(Eddie_Brock)|Venom]] that Peter had married Mary Jane Watson. Angry and jealous, Felicia began harassing the couple, physically threatening Mary Jane and taunting Peter as she dated his friend Flash Thompson. She began to sincerely care for Thompson but he eventually broke up with her when he found out her secret. The Black Cat eventually moved past her feelings of anger and jealousy, and became friends with both Spider-Man and Mary Jane. After Spider-Man used a device to remove his superhuman abilities, the Black Cat aided him in finding the device again in order to restore them. But in the process, the Black Cat's cat-like abilities were completely erased. She subsequently purchased equipment from the Tinkerer to incorporate into her costume in order to compensate for her lost abilities, and occasionally teams up with Spider-Man. During the Civil War resulting from the Superhero Registration Act, Black Cat accepted an offer from Misty Knight and Colleen Wing in the new Heroes for Hire, purely for the money. Characteristics Height: 5' 10" Weight: 120 lbs Eyes: Green Hair: Platinum blonde Powers Known Powers: Though it has been suggested that she had a latent mutant ability to affect probability fields around her ("jinxing"), the Black Cat's original "bad luck" powers were nothing more than meticulously planned stunts, executed with the aid of her exceptional gymnastics and unarmed combat skills. Later seeking power to enable her to be a true partner to her lover, Spider-Man, she made a secret deal with the Kingpin, whose scientists imbued her with a genuine "bad luck" power. This power enabled her subliminally and psionically to affect probability fields, causing improbable, but not impossible, "unlucky" events to occur to enemies within her line of sight. After Dr. Strange removed the jinx Spider-Man contracted, the Cat's powers mutated, leaving her absent the bad luck ability, but with infrared vision, superhuman balance and agility, and long extensible claws. After exposure to the Chameleon's device from the Tinkerer, used to remove Spider-Man's powers, Felicia lost all her superhuman abilities as well. She has since relied upon the Tinkerer's high-tech inventions to support her feline antics. Abilities: Excellent gymnastic. Trained in several martial arts. Master thief. Miscellaneous Equipment: Balance-enhancing earrings. Infrared contact lenses. Projectile grappling hook. Extendible electro-claws. Transportation: No known transportation. Weapons: No known weapons. Notes * No special notes. Trivia * Character Gallery Black Cat Recommended Readings *''Amazing Spider-Man'' # 194 *''Spider-Man and Black Cat "The Evil That Men Do" Complete List of Black Cat's Appearances Related Articles * See Also * Character Gallery: Black Cat External Links *Black Cat Information at www.spiderfan.org References * Category:Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Secret Identity Category:Female Characters Category:Silver Hair Category:Green Eyes Category:Heroes for Hire members Category:Copy Edit